Metallic tubing is used in high vacuum and/or high pressure systems for many laboratory and industrial applications. The tubing is connected to adapters, valves, and other connectors by use of vacuum-tight swaged-ends. To hold the two ends of the tubing together in a vacuumtight manner, one of the ends accommodates a female fitting and the other end accommodates a male fitting, the two of which are threaded together. These fittings rotate freely around the tubing until they are tightened.
One of the difficulties, however, in tightening the male and female fittings is that one of the fittings (usually having a hexagonal head) must be held stationary while the other fitting is tightened down with a wrench, or other suitable tool. At the same time, while the fittings are being tightened, the swaged or flared ends of the stationary tubing should be held tightly against the seal in the interior of its fittings, which requires that the stationary fitting not only be held to prevent rotational movement but also be held with a slight force in a longitudinal direction away from the open end of the tubing. Furthermore, there is the alignment which should be maintained between the tubing and the fitting which is held stationary to insure that the fitting is not tightened down with the tubing askew within the fitting, thereby increasing the risk of leaks.
Typically what is done is that one of the fittings, usually the female fitting, is held with a conventional vice grip with one hand while attempting to maintain that fitting into proper alignment into the tubing. The male fitting is then tightened down using another vice grip or wrench. This is difficult, time consuming and tedious, particularly when there are many fittings to be tightened.
It would thus be desirable to provide a tool which would allow for the simultaneous holding of the stationary fitting, and the tubing over which it is fitted in the proper position and with the proper tension to insure proper alignment and sealing, while the other fitting (typically the male fitting) is tightened with a wrench or other vice grip.